What Influencers Wish Foodservice Brands Did, But Don’t
Foodservice brands and restaurants often rely on influencer marketing to drive awareness, foot traffic and sales. While most foodservice influencer marketing campaigns provide creators with meals, products or monetary compensation, they often miss a critical component that could elevate results — sharing sales data and establishing ongoing partnerships.
Influencers invest time, creativity and energy into promoting brands, but they’re often left in the dark about how well their content performs offline. Did their high engagement rates lead to meaningful increases in order volumes or foot traffic?
This lack of transparency and treating the partnership like a transaction makes it harder for influencers to refine their strategies and, ultimately, deliver even greater results in future campaigns.
It benefits foodservice brands to treat influencers like members of the marketing team. This includes collaborating upfront on business goals, sharing sales data, planning for more than one-off posts and leveraging creators for their audience expertise.
Boost Foodservice Influencer Marketing ROI by Sharing More Performance Data
For many influencers, content creation is more than just capturing drool-inducing food shots — it’s a business. They’re looking to build meaningful, long-term relationships with brands, and one of the best ways to do that is by understanding the impact of their work.
While performance metrics like views, likes, comments, saves and shares are visible to content creators, what happens at the restaurant after they post typically remains a mystery.
Ashlee Sarai (@theashsarai), a foodie creator with 184.4K followers across Instagram and TikTok, shares that she would appreciate more transparency on the impact of her work. “Sometimes, restaurants don’t share sales data, which makes it hard to track results. Knowing how well a promotion performed helps us refine our strategies and bring even more value to future collaborations.”
When influencers have access to sales metrics and performance insights, they can deliver more results to their foodservice partners, particularly those who have planned to do multiple rounds of content or ongoing seasonal promotions.
For example, an influencer might discover that Instagram Stories generate higher engagement for limited-time offers, while Reels drive more traffic to a restaurant’s reservation page. Similarly, if influencers notice that certain messaging or tone leads to a significant increase in promo code redemptions, they can double down on similar phrasing or offers in future campaigns.
This data-driven approach allows influencers to pivot their strategies based on what performs best, ensuring that each collaboration evolves and becomes more effective over time.
Influencers are constantly refining their storytelling techniques, improving their editing processes and tailoring their content to resonate with their audiences. But without data on sales performance, online order rates, promo code redemptions or foot traffic spikes, they can’t effectively evaluate what’s working or where they should pivot.
Sarah Margaret Sandlin (@sarahmargareteats), a North Carolina-based creator with 356.4K followers across Instagram and TikTok, echoes this sentiment, “I wish foodservice brands brought more reporting on sales impact, so I could see how my content is directly contributing to their business.”
At Belle, we bake this approach into all client influencer strategies. All campaigns include multiple rounds of content so optimization can happen in real-time. After Phase One content goes live, we do a deep review of metrics and optimize for Phase Two, repeating the process for all subsequent rounds.
This not only strengthens the relationship between the brand and the influencer but also ensures that future collaborations generate higher ROI. It transforms influencers into strategic marketing partners rather than one-off content creators.
Kate Finley, founder of Belle Communication, explains that, “Influencers work best when they’re part of your larger marketing ecosystem and treated like members of your team, not a singular content transaction.”
3 Ways Influencers Can Support Foodservice Beyond Posting Dining Experiences
While influencers help market dining experiences, they can provide immense value beyond just showcasing limited-time offers, seasonal menus or grand openings.
Similar to their desire to understand sales impacts, influencers are eager to play a strategic role and do more than capture their meals and drinks on film.
Untapped opportunities to involve creators and improve foodservice marketing ROI include: gathering consumer insights, testing marketing messages, providing consultative expertise for new products, supporting crisis response or change management and promoting loyalty programs.
Consumer insights and expert counsel from foodservice influencer marketing partnerships
Influencers have direct access to highly engaged audiences who are eager to share their opinions. This makes them valuable partners not only for promoting a brand but also for shaping its offerings and marketing.
By involving influencers in menu testing, product ideation, message testing and consumer research, foodservice brands can gain real-time insights that help refine their marketing strategies and product launches.
Sandlin suggests that, “It would be exciting to have opportunities to be involved in menu or product development, offering input on new items or concepts.”
Involving influencers in product development for foodservice could be your secret weapon. Influencers can serve as knowledgeable consultants who bridge the gap between brands and consumers. Through conducting polls, Q&As and direct engagement with their followers, they can gather valuable feedback on new flavors, pricing sensitivities, brand sentiment and purchase motivations.
This allows brands to gauge audience interest and fine-tune offerings before committing to a full-scale launch, reducing the risk of introducing products or investing in campaigns that may not resonate with customers.
Buyer behavior insights from Sprout Social’s 2024 Influencer Marketing Report reveal that:
“29% of all consumers are likely to share product feedback with influencers. That figure jumps to 41% for Gen Z consumers and 62% for frequent buyers. This shows that consumers are bringing influencers into the product feedback loop. If marketers aren’t working closely with influencers to capture and address this feedback, you’re missing out on valuable customer insights.”
Brands can engage top influencers annually or on a quarterly basis to discuss industry trends, offer insights, poll followers and test new concepts. These “advisory boards” give influencers a seat at the table, allowing them to provide ongoing feedback that ensures the brand’s marketing efforts and menus stay aligned with consumer preferences.
By tapping into influencers’ expertise and their audience’s honest opinions, brands can launch efforts that truly resonate with their target customers while strengthening relationships with key influencers. This collaborative approach ensures that menu innovations and marketing strategies remain relevant, consumer-centric and ahead of trends.
Crisis management and brand sentiment tracking through foodservice influencer marketing
In times of crisis or change, influencers can play a pivotal role in helping foodservice brands and restaurants manage their reputation and restore consumer trust.
Because influencers have built strong, authentic relationships with their audiences, they can serve as trusted voices during challenging situations. They can help reframe the narrative by sharing positive experiences, sharing a brand update and highlighting a brand’s proactive response to feedback. When a brand is facing criticism or misinformation, influencers can correct online chatter by providing context and clarity to their followers.
This is only possible when an influencer is already involved as an existing brand ambassador. Otherwise, updates appear inauthentic. Don’t wait to build rapport and establish partnerships.
Additionally, similar to how influencers can poll audiences for product and marketing insights, they can provide real-time clarity on brand perception. When gauging how consumers feel about a situation, influencers offer a direct line of communication with target audiences.
Influencers’ ability to engage authentically, respond quickly and directly reach consumers makes them invaluable allies in protecting, understanding and rebuilding a brand’s reputation.
Using influencers to drive loyalty program sign-ups for foodservice brands
As more foodservice brands and restaurants launch loyalty programs and exclusive memberships to encourage repeat visits, they’re often missing a valuable opportunity — using influencers to promote these programs.
Influencers are in a unique position to drive sign-ups by showcasing the benefits and perks. Content from influencers can effectively highlight the rewards, exclusive offers and limited-time promotions that loyalty programs offer.
By sharing their own experiences and excitement about earning points, accessing special deals or enjoying personalized perks, influencers can inspire their followers to see the tangible value in signing up. This approach feels relatable, making it easier for audiences to envision themselves benefiting from the program.
Influencers can even go a step further by demonstrating how these loyalty programs work. Whether it’s walking through the sign-up process, showcasing how to redeem points or highlighting exclusive offers that come with membership, influencers can simplify the process and make it more accessible for potential customers.
To further incentivize sign-ups, influencers can also drive conversions through personalized promo codes or referral links that reward both the influencer’s audience and the brand. By offering a discount or bonus points for signing up through their unique link, influencers can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity that encourages followers to take action.
Stronger Foodservice Influencer Marketing ROI
For foodservice influencer partnerships to thrive, data transparency and ongoing collaboration are key.
By providing influencers with access to performance data and involving them in areas like product development, consumer insights and crisis communication, foodservice brands can transform their influencer campaigns into strategic, long-term partnerships that drive real business results.
When influencers know exactly what’s working, they can become trusted brand advocates who not only showcase a brand and grow its reach, but actively contribute to its growth and success.